Hot on the heels of the release of its well-received shooter Dodonpachi Resurrection, Cave revealed that its action-puzzler Mushihimesama Bug Panic is on its way to the iPhone and iPod Touch this Fall.
It’s been a long while since Cave made any mention of the project. Bug Panic was announced as the company’s first App Store effort back in January, and no updates regarding its development have been issued since then.
Bug Panic is a unique combo-based action game starring Reco from Cave’s Mushihimesama arcade shooter series. Players must chain together strings of exploding bugs using a limited number of regenerating bombs, avoiding contact with hazards while collecting score-boosting gems.
As with all of Cave’s App Store releases, Mushihimesama: Bug Panic will only be compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, and third- and fourth-generation iPod Touch devices when it launches in the App Store in the next few weeks. A gameplay trailer is below.
Developer: CAVE
Price: $8.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
Device Reviewed On: iPod Touch
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.38 out of 5 stars
I like to think of myself as a well-rounded gamer. But one of the game genres I have never been strong in is the Japanese danmaku, usually translated as “bullet hell.” So, for me – as I suspect it will be for many a more casual iOS gamer – Cave’s recently released Dodonpachi Resurrection may be something of an introduction to the genre.
And oh, what an introduction! Dodonpachi Resurrection is far and away the best top-down shooter I have played on my iPod Touch, and possibly one of the best top-down shooters I have ever played, period. It’s a wild, over-the-top action shooter that will leave you both baffled and exhilarated at the same time.
If you’re new to the genre like I am, the game may take a little getting used to. You begin by selecting a mode – iPhone or Arcade (I recommend iPhone) – then selecting a ship and, if in Arcade mode, selecting a combat style. A few seconds of cutscene later and … bam! The whole screen becomes filled with bullets, missiles, explosions, and enemies. It can be a bit overwhelming to the new player, until you are able to grasp the flow of the game.
Once you get used to it, though, it’s a whole lot of fun. Controls are simple touch; you slide your thumb to move the ship, tap buttons to change weapons, spin a frantic circle to charge up your hyper cannon. There’s a scoring system in place that rewards multiplyers and the collecting of badges released from destroyed enemies – still a bit arcane to me, but important if you’re going to try and improve your score.
It all runs smoothly, embracing its fast pace and letting you slide comfortably into the destruction zone. And the graphics presentation is well executed. Even with the sky full of munitions, you can generally keep track of what’s going on — though sometimes the screen does become little more than a fugue of colors. It’s finely managed chaos, set to a funky sci-fi soundtrack.
Do be advised: the game sports high technical demands, such that any device older than an iPhone 3GS will not run it properly. It also comes in at a relatively short seven levels for its $9 price tag; so if you are the more casual gamer who only expects to play through once, you may find the price a bit steep.
I think that you will want to play it again, though. I know that I am certainly enjoying it enough to keep going back, doing my best to fight my way up the leaderboards (I’m currently 10,775th … sigh … ). If you have the right device, and if you don’t mind the price, then you must play Dodonpachi Resurrection.
As a final note: after playing through it myself, I introduced the game to my six-year old son, who loves to play “shoot-em-up” games. He spent the next twenty minutes giggling over the screen, making shooty noises from the side of his mouth and occasionally noting with glee, “You get to blow everything up!” I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Cave has launched a free Lite demo version of its acclaimed bullet-hell shooter Dodonpachi Resurrection. If you haven’t yet purchased the full version, you need to play this, badly.
Dodonpachi Resurrection Lite includes the first level of the game, playable in both Arcade and iPhone modes. The demo also offers a taste of the new SM scoring system, which includes two weapons exclusive to the iPhone version of Dodonpachi Resurrection.
Be aware that both the full and Lite versions of the game are only playable on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, the iPad, and third-generation iPod Touch devices. Earlier hardware generations are not supported.
Espgaluda II developer Cave has released new details and a gameplay trailer for its upcoming App Store adaptation of the bullet-hell shooter DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu.
To be titled DoDonPachi Resurrection upon its release in North America, the app will include all content from the original arcade release, along with a new iPhone-exclusive “SM Mode,” which introduces new weapons and gameplay mechanics.
As seen in the trailer above, players can engage a multi-directional laser attack in SM Mode. Using the iPhone’s touch screen, players can aim the ship’s lasers in any direction while protected by a bullet-canceling shield. Also exclusive to this mode is the “Hyper Cannon,” a screen-filling attack that annihilates incoming enemies and does major damage to bosses.
Cave’s Masa KING notes that the iPhone version of DoDonPachi Resurrection will additionally feature remixed music from Kenichi Maeyamada and longtime Beatmania composer Shoichiro Hirata when it launches in the App Store in “the middle of this summer.”
Espgaluda II developer Cave announced today that it plans to port its 2008 arcade shoot-’em-up DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu to the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The DonPachi series is obviously near and dear to Cave’s heart. DonPachi was the first game the studio created after its formation, with the follow-up DoDonPachi considered by many to be one of the best vertically scrolling shoot-’em-ups of its time.
The series saw two more sequels developed by Cave, including the Xbox 360-ported DoDonPachi Daioujou and the latest entry, DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu, which has not yet been released for home consoles.
Cave plans a global App Store release for Daifukkatsu in the summer of 2010. As with Espgaluda II, the game requires an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third-generation iPod Touch, or iPad to play — earlier hardware generations are not supported.
(Side note: Cave has also released a teaser trailer for its next arcade shooter, Akai Katana. The game will go on location test in Japan next week. It’s way, way too soon to speculate on a future iPhone port, but here’s hoping!)
Developer: CAVE Co., Ltd.
Price: $8.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
Graphics / Sound Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.88 out of 5 stars
The creators of Espgaluda II, a Japanese game software development company called Cave, created some of the most successful arcade scrolling shooters to ever grace the genre. Cave is responsible for bringing a new, frenetic genre of shooters, known as “manic shooters,” or “bullet hell” shooters, to the gaming masses, incorporating intense game play with massive amounts of enemy fire-filled screens, requiring players to dodge and weave their way through oncoming onslaughts of enemy fire using meticulous handling and control. While games like Espgaluda II have seen much success in Japan, we in the US have yet to fully embrace this take on the genre: until now.
Cave’s mission statement, “The Spirit of Cave,” is simple: “Entertaining people and make them happy.” Well, if Espgaluda II is any indication of Cave’s success, their employees must all travel by private, tricked-out helicopters and sleep on mounds of cash money.
While Espgaluda II was a hit on the Xbox 360, it is Cave’s first port foray into the iDevice market and they’ve essentially cannon-balled their way into the app store’s pool, splashing us with an indelible, new game play experience while leaving little water for the rest of the genre. Espgaluda II is an extremely well-designed graphical masterpiece that shatters the bounds of its genre predecessors, setting a new standard for 2D vertical scrolling shooters for the iDevice. In creating their ported version of Espgaluda II, Cave has preserved the gorgeous graphics and game play of its arcade version while offering an additional mode, made specifically for the iPhone.
As previously mentioned, Espgaluda II is a 2D, vertical-scrolling arcade space shooter sequel ported from the Xbox 360 to the iPhone. Right from the jump, be forewarned: Unfortunately, due to its heavy/dense graphics and animations, it sucks battery life at a rapid pace and is currently only available for the iPhone 3GS. Fret not, however, as Cave has announced it plans to offer support for the iPod touch (32GB and 64GB) as soon as possible.
Espgaluda II features:
As stated earlier, Espgaluda’s graphics are visually stunning, immersing players in rich, crisp, colorful, detailed environments. That said, game play animations are surprisingly smooth for such a graphics-heavy powerhouse. During my time playing the game, I experienced no lag, slowing or stuttering of any kind.
The game’s soundtrack features quality, upbeat techno-electronica that perfectly complements and blends with the game play and sharp, crisp sound effects, immersing players in a pristine environment of manic game play which will make them forget they’re playing on a smart phone.
Espgaluda II is a pick-up-and-play powerhouse, short on story and big on action. I wish I could explain it’s storyline, but it’s rather ambiguous and non-committal, which is fine by me, as I’m only here to unleash hell. Judging from the intro and epilogue screens (which appears after you beat the game), there’s a scuffle which causes your winged-weaponed character to take to the air and embark on a quest to destroy the Big Boss and his/her minions. Once finished, your character mumbles something about having the death of many children on his/her hands, blah blah blah and the other characters tell him to get his/her expletive together, as they need to build a new, peaceful world and that’s about it.
As mentioned earlier, Espgaluda II features two modes of play: iPhone and Arcade. Basic game play within each is pretty much the same, but iPhone mode has an embellished touch-control scheme and character “Awakenings” are different between the two (explained further below). Each mode has three different difficulty settings: Novice, Normal and Hard.
Each difficulty setting has three control types players can choose from: Simplified, Normal and Expert. Simplified contains one control button (Awakening button, explained further below), Normal has two: Awakening and Guard Barrier and Expert has four: Awakening, Shot On/Off, Guard Barrier and Shot Change. Auto-fire is standard throughout the game, so players can concentrate on movement and strategy. Players can then choose which side of the iPhone screen they want their controls displayed on, left or right.
Espgaluda II contains all the standard game play options found in most games, such as controlling sound effects, music volume, etc., but it also features the ability to have players select between one of three screen sizes: Small, Middle and Large, with Middle being the default.
The game features three different characters: Ageha, Asagi and Tateha, each with different skill attributes and six separate stages of play. Players can progress through the levels or choose whichever one they wish to start from. After selecting a stage, players are introduced to an eight-screen tutorial, explaining game play mechanics. After the tutorial screens, the carnage begins.
The game’s control-scheme is simple and precise: Players use a finger (or thumb) to control their character’s movement and to press the appropriate button(s), depending on player control selection. Auto-fire is standard in all control types, eliminating the need for superfluous gestures while adding to the control scheme’s simplicity. The controls are very responsive, allowing players to accurately weave in and out of intense, dense onslaughts of enemy fire and incorporate perfectly into both modes of play. Be forewarned, however: Playing Espgaluda II is not unlike drinking several 40-ounce bottles of your favorite malt liquor on a random, weekday night: Sure, it’s smooth and satisfying and should garner the attention of any babes/dudes within close proximity, but inevitably you’ll disappear for hours, only to reemerge alone and hungry, with no recollection of what’s happened around you, sporting sore eyeballs and a severe headache.
Prior to playing Espgaluda II for the first time, my expectations were conservative, to put it nicely. In my experience, iPhone 2D scrolling shooters provide relatively repetitive, mundane game play. When starting the game, I was instantly amazed by the colorful, pixelated graphics and smooth, fast frame-rate/animations flying about on the screen before me. Technically, Espgaluda II is, by far, the most impressive 2D scrolling shooter I’ve ever played; on a console or on an iPhone.
As stated earlier, players use touch controls to traverse over the playing field, dispatching enemies, dodging enemy fire and collecting power-ups, Spirit Gems and coins. The function buttons along the left or right side of the iPhone (depending on the player’s preference) are used to activate their Guard Barrier, Awakening, Shot On/Off and/or Shot Change, depending on the user’s preference.
Game play, in both Arcade and iPhone mode, centers around destroying enemies and dodging bullets, while collecting Spirit Gems, released by killed enemies. In turn, Spirit Gems power your Awakened Perception mode, which players initiate by pressing the “Awaken” button. Once activated, your character “awakens,” causing all movement onscreen to slow down to a crawl. In iPhone mode, while in Awakened Perception, characters are unable to move, but players can touch the screen to use the “Awakening Pulse” to damage enemies and remove bullets from their path or wherever they touch. Bullets fired by destroyed enemies will dissipate and transform into Spirit Gems. The more bullets a player cancels at once, the higher their score multiplier goes. If a player kills an enemy in Awakened Perception, it creates a small explosion, turning any enemy bullets caught in the explosion into gold. Conversely, if a player is struck by an enemy bullet while in Awakened Perception, their Guard Barrier will automatically engage, but it will deplete half of their meter. While in Awakened Perception, your Spirit Gems counter will continuously decline. Once depleted, the player returns to normal status. When switching out of Awakened Perception, enemy bullets transform into gold. A gold multiplier takes effect according to how long your character stays Awakened. If you do not disable Awakened Perception by the time your Spirit Gem counter reaches zero, you will automatically default back to normal state.
In Arcade Mode, however, players can move while in Awakened Perception mode, but bullets do not change to gold when returning to normal. In addition, players can further enter Awakening Over mode. This mode occurs when you run out of gems in Awakened Perception, but you still have gold remaining. Bullets will turn red and enemies drop a higher amount of gold. The longer you stay in this mode, the faster bullets will begin to travel and the more your Awakening Over Level begins to rise. The higher your Awakening Over Level, the more gold enemies will drop in and the more gems enemies will drop in normal mode.
Holding the Guard button will form a barrier around your character, making him/her invincible to enemy attacks. Guard Barrier can be used as long as your Guard Barrier Gauge is filled. Holding the Guard button for a couple of seconds then releasing it unleashes a Guard Barrier attack, causing massive damage to your enemy. The longer it’s held, the stronger the attack.
Each level concludes with a boss battle (some levels have mid-boss battles). During these battles, boss characters unleash large amounts of bullets that players must dodge (or cancel using Awakened Perception). Strategically using Awakened Perception and Guard Barrier during these battles is crucial.
In all, Espgaluda II is a beautiful, well-developed port for the iPhone and the best 2D vertical shooter I’ve ever played. It’s breathed new life into a stale, complacent genre and raised the bar for other 2D scrolling shooter developers (here’s hoping they follow suit). Beautiful, fantastic game play, varied game/scoring modes and OpenFeint integration/achievements result in virtually endless re-playability that should appeal to all game lovers. If you’re a fan of this genre, this game is a must-have. If you’re not, you’ll still enjoy playing this gorgeous game, regardless of its price.
Japanese shoot-’em-up developer Cave has opened a new website announcing the upcoming release of Espgaluda II for the iPhone.
Originally released in arcades in 2006 (and ported to the Xbox 360 last month as Espgaluda II Black Label), Espgaluda II is a vertically scrolling shooter that features lots and lots of candy-colored bullets. How many bullets? About this many.
Yes, it’s one of Cave’s infamous “bullet hell” titles, designed in the tradition of notoriously difficult games like Mushihime-sama and DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou. If you’re willing to die many deaths before you get a feel for dodging enemy attack patterns, these are the games for you.
Espgaluda II follows up on Cave’s iPhone-exclusive action title Mushihime-sama Gaiden: Bug Panic, which still has not yet been released as of this writing. Given Cave’s recent experimentation with region-free Xbox 360 releases, a U.S. App Store release for both titles is all but assured.
Arcade shoot-em-up developer Cave announced at the recent Cave Matsuri 2009 event that it will bring a spinoff in its popular Mushihime-sama series to the iPhone. Fortunately for us mere mortals, it may end up being much less challenging than its infamously difficult arcade predecessors.
Mushihime-sama Gaiden: Bug Panic features the same characters and graphic style as the original Mushihime-sama arcade games, but its gameplay more closely resembles an overhead-view twin-stick shooter.
In Bug Panic, players are armed with an infinite supply of spread bombs, only three of which can be detonated at a time. In a mechanic similar to Missile Command or Every Extend Extra, enemies that get caught up in each bomb’s explosion will themselves explode. Players must effectively chain enemies to spread waves of destruction across each level and score big points.
No release date has yet been set for Mushihime-sama Gaiden: Bug Panic, and Cave has not revealed whether it plans to release the title outside of Japan. Given that the recent Xbox 360 port of Mushihime-sama Futari was shipped on a region-free disc, though, an international release for Bug Panic seems likely.
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I like to think of myself as a well-rounded gamer. But one of the game genres I have never been strong in is the Japanese danmaku, usually translated as “bullet hell.” So, for me – as I suspect it will be for many a more casual iOS gamer – Cave’s recently released Dodonpachi Resurrection may be something of an introduction to the genre. 
released from destroyed enemies – still a bit arcane to me, but important if you’re going to try and improve your score. 
The creators of Espgaluda II, a Japanese game software development company called 
While Espgaluda II was a hit on the Xbox 360, it is Cave’s first port foray into the iDevice market and they’ve essentially cannon-balled their way into the app store’s pool, splashing us with an indelible, new game play experience while leaving little water for the rest of the genre. Espgaluda II is an extremely well-designed graphical masterpiece that shatters the bounds of its genre predecessors, setting a new standard for 2D vertical scrolling shooters for the iDevice. In creating their ported version of Espgaluda II, Cave has preserved the gorgeous graphics and game play of its arcade version while offering an additional mode, made specifically for the iPhone. 
Espgaluda II is a pick-up-and-play powerhouse, short on story and big on action. I wish I could explain it’s storyline, but it’s rather ambiguous and non-committal, which is fine by me, as I’m only here to unleash hell. Judging from the intro and epilogue screens (which appears after you beat the game), there’s a scuffle which causes your winged-weaponed character to take to the air and embark on a quest to destroy the Big Boss and his/her minions. Once finished, your character mumbles something about having the death of many children on his/her hands, blah blah blah and the other characters tell him to get his/her expletive together, as they need to build a new, peaceful world and that’s about it.
Each difficulty setting has three control types players can choose from: Simplified, Normal and Expert. Simplified contains one control button (Awakening button, explained further below), Normal has two: Awakening and Guard Barrier and Expert has four: Awakening, Shot On/Off, Guard Barrier and Shot Change. Auto-fire is standard throughout the game, so players can concentrate on movement and strategy. Players can then choose which side of the iPhone screen they want their controls displayed on, left or right.
The game features three different characters: Ageha, Asagi and Tateha, each with different skill attributes and six separate stages of play. Players can progress through the levels or choose whichever one they wish to start from. After selecting a stage, players are introduced to an eight-screen tutorial, explaining game play mechanics. After the tutorial screens, the 
